Increase In The Number Of Americans Who Say They Are "Suffering"
Posted Mar 13, 2009 at 9:58 AM by Maurice Berger
The number of Americans who say they are "suffering" as a result of the nation's economic downturn has increased. Gallup reports that the "number of Americans classified as 'suffering' has increased by 3 million over the past year. While an average of 3% of Americans were suffering in February of 2008, the number has remained higher over the past 12 months, consistently between 4% and 5%. While a monthly high of 5% was recorded last June when gas prices spiked, some days in March have reached 6%, suggesting suffering is only on the uptrend."
The Gallup-Healthways Life Evaluation Index asks at least 1,000 Americans each day to "evaluate their current lives as well as their expectations of where they will be in five years using a 'ladder' scale with steps number from 0 to 10, where '0' indicates the worst possible life and "10" the best possible life. Americans in the 'thriving' group say that they presently stand on step 7 or higher of the ladder and expect to stand on step 8 or higher five years from now. Americans in the 'suffering' group, on the other hand, say they presently stand on steps 0 to 4 of the ladder and expect to stand on steps 0 to 4 five years from now. Those who are neither thriving nor suffering are considered to be 'struggling.'"
Indeed, the public's overall view of the economy remains bleak. According to an Ipsos/McClatchy poll, 57% of Americans believe that the worst is yet to come as far as the economy is concerned. 35% say it has stabilized but not yet begun to improve; only 3% believe the country has turned the corner.
